"Have you ever been to Chicago, Mr. Kilday? No? It is such a dear place; I simply adore it. I"m on my way home from there now. All my men friends begged me to stay; they sent me so many flowers I had to keep them in the bath-tub. Wasn"t it darling of them? I just love men. How long have you been in Clayton, Mr. Kilday?"
He tried to answer coherently, but his thoughts were in eager pursuit of a red rose that flashed in and out among the dancers.
"And you really came over from England by yourself when you were just a small boy? Weren"t you clever! But I know the captain and all of them made a great pet of you. Then you made a walking tour through the States; I heard all about it. It was just too romantic for any use. I love adventure. My two best friends are at the theological seminary.
One"s going to India,--he"s a blond,--and one to Africa. Just between us, I am going with one of them, but I can"t for the life of me make up my mind which. I don"t know why I am telling you all these things, Mr. Kilday, except that you are so sweet and sympathetic. You understand, don"t you?"
He a.s.sured her that he did with more vehemence than was necessary, for he did not want her to suspect that he had not heard what she said.
"I knew you did. I knew it the moment I shook hands with you. I felt that we were drawn to each other. I am like you; I am just full of magnetism."
Sandy unconsciously moved slightly away: he had a sudden uncomfortable realization that he was the only one within the sphere of influence.
After two intermissions he suggested that they go out to the drug-store and get some soda-water. On the steps they met Annette.
"You old f-fraud," she whispered to Sandy in pa.s.sing, "I thought you didn"t like to sit out d-dances."
He smiled feebly.
"Don"t you mind her teasing," pouted his partner; "if we like to talk better than to dance, it"s our own affair."
Sandy wished devoutly that it was somebody else"s. When they returned, they went back to their old corner. The chairs, evidently considering them permanent occupants, a.s.sumed an air of familiarity which he resented.
"Do you know, you remind me of an old sweetheart of mine," resumed the voice of his captor, coyly. "He was the first real lover I ever had.
His eyes were big and pensive, just like yours, and there was always that same look in his face that just made me want to stay with him all the time to keep him from being lonely. He was awfully fond of me, but he had to go out West to make his fortune, and he married before he got back."
Sandy sighed, ostensibly in sympathy, but in reality at his own sad fate. At that moment Prometheus himself would not have envied him his state of mind. The music set his nerves tingling and the dancers beckoned him on, yet he was bound to his chair, with no relief in view. At the tenth intermission he suggested soda-water again, after which they returned to their seats.
"I hope people aren"t talking about us," she said, with a pleased laugh. "I oughtn"t to have given you all these dances. It"s perfectly fatal for a girl to show such preference for one man. But we are so congenial, and you do remind me--"
"If it"s embarra.s.sing to you--" began Sandy, grasping the straw with both hands.
"Not one bit," she a.s.serted. "If you would rather have a good confidential time here with me than to meet a lot of silly little girls, then I don"t care what people say. But, as I was telling you, I met him the year I came out, and he was interested in me right off--"
On and on and on she went, and Sandy ceased to struggle. He sank in his chair in dogged dejection. He felt that she had been talking ever since he was born, and was going to continue until he died, and that all he could do was to wait in anguish for the end. He watched the flushed, happy faces whirling by. How he envied the boys their wilted collars! After eons and eons of time the band played "Home, Sweet Home."
"It"s the last dance," said she. "Aren"t you sorry? We"ve had a perfectly divine time--" She got no further, for her partner, faithful through many numbers, had deserted his post at last.
Sandy pushed eagerly through the crowd and presented himself at Ruth"s side. She was sitting with several boys on the stage steps, her cheeks flushed from the dance, and a loosened curl falling across her bare shoulder. He tried to claim his dance, but the words, too long confined, rushed to his lips so madly as to form a blockade.
She looked up and saw him--saw the longing and doubt in his eyes, and came to his rescue.
"Isn"t this our dance, Mr. Kilday?" she said, half smiling, half timidly.
In the excitement of the moment he forgot his carefully practised bow, and the omission brought such chagrin that he started out with the wrong foot. There was a gentle, ripping sound, and a quarter of a yard of lace trailed from the hem of his partner"s skirt.
"Did I put me foot in it?" cried Sandy, in such burning consternation that Ruth laughed.
"It doesn"t matter a bit," she said lightly, as she stooped to pin it up. "It shows I"ve had a good time. Come! Don"t let"s miss the music."
He took her hand, and they stepped out on the polished floor. The blissful agony of those first few moments was intolerably sweet.
She was actually dancing with him (one, two, three; one, two, three).
Her soft hair was close to his cheek (one, two, three; one, two, three). What if he should miss a step (one, two, three)--or fall?
He stole a glance at her; she smiled rea.s.suringly. Then he forgot all about the steps and counting time. He felt as he had that morning on shipboard when the _America_ pa.s.sed the _Great Britain_. All the joy of boyhood resurged through his veins, and he danced in a wild abandonment of bliss; for the band was playing "Home, Sweet Home,"
and to Sandy it meant that, come what might, within her shining eyes his gipsy soul had found its final home.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Then he forgot all about the steps and counting time"]
When the music stopped, and they stood, breathless and laughing, at the dressing-room door, Ruth said:
"I thought Annette told me you were just learning to dance!"
"So I am," said Sandy; "but me heart never kept time for me before!"
When Annette joined them she looked up at Sandy and smiled.
"Poor f-fellow!" she said sympathetically. "What a perfectly horrid time you"ve had!"
CHAPTER XVI
THE NELSON HOME
Willowvale, the Nelson homestead, lay in the last curve of the river, just before it left the restrictions of town for the freedom of fields and meadows.
It was a quaint old house, all over honeysuckles and bow-windows and verandas, approached by an oleander-bordered walk, and sheltered by a wide circle of poplar-and oak-trees that had nodded both approval and disapproval over many generations of Nelsons.
In the dining-room, on the ma.s.sive mahogany table, lunch was laid for three. Carter sat at the foot, absorbed in a newspaper, while at the head Mrs. Nelson languidly partook of her second biscuit. It was vulgar, in her estimation, for a lady to indulge in more than two biscuits at a meal.
When old Evan Nelson died six years before, he had left the bulk of his fortune to his two grandchildren, and a handsome allowance to his eldest son"s widow, with the understanding that she was to take charge of Ruth until that young lady should become of age.
Mrs. Nelson accepted the trust with becoming resignation. The prospect of guiding a wealthy and obedient young person through the social labyrinth to an eligible marriage wakened certain faculties that had long lain dormant. It was not until the wealthy and obedient young person began to develop tastes of her own that she found the burden irksome.
Nine months of the year Ruth was at boarding-school, and the remaining three she insisted upon spending in the old home at Clayton, where Carter kept his dogs and horses and spent his summers. Hitherto Mrs.
Nelson had compromised with her. By adroit management she contrived to keep her, for weeks at a time, at various summer resorts, where she expected her to serve a sort of social apprenticeship which would fit her for her future career.
At nineteen Ruth developed alarming symptoms of obstinacy. Mrs. Nelson confessed tearfully to the rest of the family that it had existed in embryo for years. Instead of making the most of her first summer out of school, the foolish girl announced her intention of going to Willowvale for an indefinite stay.
It was indignation at this state of affairs that caused Mrs. Nelson to lose her appet.i.te. Clayton was to her the limit of civilization; there was too much sunshine, too much fresh air, too much out of doors. She disliked nature in its crude state; she preferred it softened and toned down to drawing-room pitch.
She glanced up in disapproval as Ruth"s laugh sounded in the hall.
"Rachel, tell her that lunch is waiting," she said to the colored girl at her side.
Carter looked up as Ruth came breezily into the room. She wore her riding-habit, and her hair was tossed by her brisk morning canter.